I have stuttered most of my life. I have hated it. I never asked to stutter. I never asked that my second grade public school teacher smack my left wrist and hard so hard with a steel ruler, after nearly five months of getting me to change from writing left hand to writing right hand, that blood spurted from both my wrist and left hand. It took 18 months of physical therapy before I could use my left hand again.

However, my teacher won. Today, I write with my right hand. While strong, my left hand is not as strong as my right hand. When I played baseball, I developed into a fair switch hitter. I throw with my left hand and use eating utensils with my left hand.

I have always loved writing. I won a citywide essay contest my fifth grade year in Cleveland, Ohio at St. Agnes. I worked for my hometown newspaper in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. from 1963-to 1967. I wrote a weekly column on King College activities that would occur the following week. I discovered I loved writing. Working with professionals, I learned to write concisely, and so when I was given a term paper with a range of pages, five to eight or ten-to-twelve, for example, I completed my assignments with the minimum effort.

Despite the fact that I went through college on a math scholarship, no one offered me a job before I graduated. During my last two years in college, I had many, many interviews, and it was always the same, "I can not hire you or recommend you for an interview with my company because you stutter."

Even after graduating, I would hear the same comments scores and scores of times when I interviewed for jobs. Even after the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed I heard the same comments. Coming from people, who are supposed to be intelligent, I often wonder where do they leave their intelligence. It leaves them when they hear me stutter and returns once I leave their sight.

It would surprise so many of these intelligent people to know that Winston Churchill, Moses, Mel Tillis, Bill Walton and John Stroessel of ABC News, Marilyn Monroe, singer Carly Simon and other famous people stuttered and stutter.

There was a time in my life when I blame every failure on my stuttering. It was an easy scapegoat. Then I matured and I started taking control of my life. I developed a serious attitude about controlling my stuttering. In 1979, I started an 18-month speech therapy course at George Washington University in Washington, DC. I went two-to-three times a week for 90 minutes a session. I learned to control my stuttering. My fear of it went away. Today, when I practice the techniques I learned when working with Dr. Jim Hillis, I can be fluent 95% of the time.

When I completed my 18-month course, I was fluent, and I felt better physically and psychologically about myself. I told myself then, if a computer can help me control my stuttering and make me feel good about myself, what can it do for others who are far more impaired than me. I was hooked on computers and hooked on devoting the rest of my life to writing about the benefits of assistive technology for people with disabilities. Since then, I have written more than a thousand articles on people using computers and have worked for about a dozen companies in this field. I love the field and the people.

I have worked for good companies as a writer for most of my life. From 1968-to-1971 I worked for Army Times Publishing Co. as a reporter and later senior production editor. I met a lot of Senators, Congressman and occasionally covered the Pentagon. I never felt comfortable at the Pentagon. I did not like the talk about killing, killing, and killing.

Between 1971 and 1973, I was an environmental writer for Franklin Institute. Again, I traveled across the country and Europe. It was an excellent job, but tiring. The average workweek was 65 hours. Fifty percent of my time was spent traveling.

From 1973 to 1975 I was an Anti-Submarine Warfare reporter for Raytheon Service Company. I traveled throughout the United States and Europe covering anti-submarine warfare conferences. They were boring, boring, boring. It was a job. I was young and was paid good money. I loved seeing the U.S. and Europe.

From 1975 to 1978, I worked for United Way of America as the senior writer for the communications department. I was one of the original writes of the United Way/National Football League spots seen every week during the NFL season. This was the most creative and satisfying job I have ever had. My boss, Mario Pelegrini, knew how to reach into the depths of my soul and bring out the best in me.

When I left the job in 1978, I went to work for Frank Bowe, then the executive director of the American Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities. I was a novice to the disability field. Frank was an excellent boss. He had enough confidence in his staff to let them operate independently on our projects. Since 1978, I have been working either as an advocate or a writer on disability issues.

It was not easy being the only person who stuttered while working for the different organizations. I know of assignment I lost because higher authorities believed my stuttering would embarrass the company if I interviewed someone. This was not true of ACCD. Frank Bowe always, always told his staff, "Its your job. Do it."

Since 1978, I have written hundreds of articles on disability issues. Many times the responses told me there was a market for what I wanted to say.

In October 1998, after several years of going to every major news outlet and online news service in the country, my first assistive technology column appeared on BusinessWeek.Com under Daily Briefing. At first the column appeared twice a month. Four months later, it appeared three weeks per month. Six weeks later, I was writing it every week.

The column is a hit. More than 50,000 people read it each week. Anywhere from 50-to-300 or more people e-mail me each week with their opinions on the column. My editor, Doug Harbrecht, lets me pick my topics. I do not have to go looking for topics to write on. People are coming to me all the day.

Since writing the column, I have been invited to the White House to meet with the President of the United States. I have interviewed Vice President Al Gore, Senator John McCain, Richard Marriott of Marriott Corp., Country-Western singer Mel Tillis, and former Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich. one of the founding fathers of the Internet Vinton Cerf, triple amputee Senator Max Cleland. I have received speaking offers before different groups, and the column has won the Easter Seals Equal, Dignity and Independence award. It has been nominated for three other awards and will receive an award in May from a national organization representing blind people.

It takes from two-to-three days to write a column. There is the research and telephone calls and then additional work from my editor. He always comes back to me with additional questions to make the column better. I have been fortunate that my topics are topical and are of interest to my readers. My readers are advocates, consumers, and teachers, government policy makers on all levels, rehabilitation professionals, human resource managers and manufacturers of assistive technology products.

There is a great deal more I want to do with the column and will do so. I know my stuttering played a major role in my perseverance to find a publishing company to publish the column regularly. I was lucky that I preserved in my quest to write the column. I knew it would be a success. It is.